


Can't start a fire without a spark

by queenofchildren



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Modern AU, the fluffest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-23 20:37:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6129295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofchildren/pseuds/queenofchildren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke wants to bring down an unethical researcher and Bellamy needs money. What better opportunity to take part in a psychological study for long-term couples? And if it may be a little too easy to act like a couple, well, that's a problem Clarke can deal with. <br/>Probably.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can't start a fire without a spark

Octavia and Clarke have been friends for years, so there’s not a lot either of them can do or say to shock the other. But this time once Clarke has voiced her newest request, Octavia actually goes quiet for several long seconds.

”You need me to do _what_?“

”I need you to get me a man.“

”For… breakfast? Marriage? Changing a lightbulb?“

”To pretend to be my longterm partner so I can infiltrate my arch-enemy’s study and prove that his methods are flawed.“

“Emerson? That douchebag is still around?”

“And still cashing in on research grants with his highly unethical projects. He needs to be stopped.”

“So of course you’re the one for the job.”

“Well _someone_ has to do it.”

“And now you need a second person with a hero complex to match yours.”

“He could also just be broke. The study’s paid.”

“I have just the guy for you. But if I make him do it, you can’t turn him down.”

“Why, who do you have?”

“You’re not going to like it. But it will be perfect.”

Clarke can practically hear the smirk in her friend’s voice, and dread rises within her.

“You can’t mean….”

“Bellamy!” Octavia shouts excitedly, as if this was a _good_ idea.

“Absolutely not. They won’t buy it.”

“Oh, trust me, they’ll buy it. You two bicker like an old married couple.”

Clarke doesn’t really know what to say to this because it’s just so _ridiculous_. Instead, she switches tactics.

“He won’t do it anyway. He’d rather eat his own shoes than help me out.”

“First of all, that’s not true and you know it.” Clarke snorts disparagingly, but she knows Octavia isn’t completely wrong. Bellamy may love to rile her up, but he’s always had her back when she needed it before. Asking Bellamy for help with _this_ still seems like a very bad idea, somehow.

Octavia apparently disagrees. “Secondly… yes, he’ll do it. His car broke down yesterday, and if he wants to get it fixed, which he has to in order to get to work, he’ll have to use the money he was saving for that excursion to Rome. If there’s money in it, he’ll do it.”

***

Clarke remains skeptical that Bellamy will actually agree to this, but she should have known better – there is nothing on earth Octavia couldn’t talk her brother into. So, three days later, she meets him at a coffee shop just off campus to fill him in on what’s expected of him.

The study is spaced out over a period of four weeks, with regular sessions twice a week, so it will be intense, and since it starts in three days, Clarke has already started hammering out a backstory for them. The notice specifically asked for long-term couples, so they’ll have to be prepared, and consequently, Clarke’s meticulously typed-out notes include everything from the moment they met  to the first time one of them said “I love you”. 

For the sake of not slipping up, she tried to keep the details as close to the truth as possible – they _have_ known each other forever, since Clarke and Octavia have been best friends since kindergarten, and there has always been a friendly rivalry between them that meant they spend a lot of time bickering back and forth, but both know the other would walk through fire if one of them needed support or defending.

But the part where good-natured ribbing slowly turns into tentative flirting and childhood loyalty into newfound respect, where familiar touches suddenly become new and exciting – that part is fictional, even if it flows from mind to paper with unsettling ease.

Bellamy listens to her quietly, his face so expressionless it freaks her out a little bit, and even after she’s done, he stays quiet for several long moments before he asks:

“So that’s our backstory? We just sort of… happen?”

“Well, yes. Most relationships do, don’t they? Why, how would _you_ think we we should happen?”

This is a weird conversation, Clarke thinks, acutely aware of the flush rising in her cheeks as he continues to look at her in this intense way.

“I don’t know, I was hoping for something a little bit more… epic.”

“Epic?” Clarke snorts and he actually looks a little offended.

“You know – spanning years and continents. Lives ruined, blood shed. That kind of story.“

Clarke can only stare at him in confusion, not sure at all where this is going and even less sure she likes the way the tone of his voice makes her stomach flip.

“Look, Bellamy, I know you’re a giant nerd, but not every story has to be worthy of ending up in a history book. This one just needs to sound believable. We’re trying _not_ to catch their attention.”

Bellamy looks like he wants to protest for a moment, then lifts his coffee cup to take an annoyingly unhurried sip of coffee.

“Alright, we’ll be a boring couple then. When do we start?”

And just like that, Clarke and Bellamy are a couple, at least for an hour two times a week.

***

The first time they show up at the classroom in the psychology building where the study is taking place, Clarke is a nervous wreck, and Bellamy is somehow simultaneously making it better and much, much worse.

Of course, a bit of PDA might go further towards selling this thing than the long but somewhat dry list of facts about them that Clarke sent him to learn by heart two days ago. But Clarke somehow completely forgot about the physical aspect of their little charade (or possibly pushed it to the back of her mind because thinking _those_ kinds of things about Bellamy Blake is _dangerous_ ), and so she’s not at all prepared for the little zing that shoots through her when he casually takes her hand as they stroll into the room where about ten couples are gathered already.

They introduce themselves and start chatting with some of the others, and no one even asks about them as a couple, and then Emerson and his research assistant Maya arrive to explain how exactly the study will be structured. For the first meeting, all they have to do is sign a few forms and fill out a questionnaire with some background information on themselves and their relationship, and before she knows it they’re back outside the building again and Clarke mumbles a hasty goodbye and dashes off to her car.

She’s convinced that Emerson will find out, that their answers were too deviating to give off the impression of two people who have shared their lives for a long time.

But two days later, she receives an e-mail with an invitation to the study’s next session. They bought it.

***

The study is a mix of questionnaires, interviews, both separately and together, and practical tasks they have to fulfil together which, frankly, Clarke and Bellamy completely rule at. They complete every task in much less than the allotted time, with a flowing, wordless cooperation that they’ve always had, though Clarke has no idea how or when it developed. But just like the times they’ve had to work together before, on Octavia’s wedding and Clarke’s move and the jungle of insurance claims and other bullshit they helped Raven wade through after her accident, they just _work_ without even really noticing it.

And as much as she doesn’t like to add to Bellamy’s already oversized ego, she has to give credit where credit is due: The fact that their ruse works is in large part thanks to Bellamy. Clarke may have figured out the backstory and carefully put together a list of all the things they should know about each other to learn by heart, but Bellamy is the one who’s selling it. And, almost as a byproduct, makes all the other test couples fall in love with him.

Because Bellamy Blake, it turns out, is the perfect boyfriend, or at least knows how to play him. His suggestions for shared activities are romantic without being cheesy and he shows himself to be accomodating of all facets of Clarke’s life – her large and demanding circle of friends, her even more demanding studies, the sometimes fraught relationship with her parents: Fake-boyfriend Bellamy is aware of all of it, supportive without being overbearing, and loyal to a fault.

By the time the first two weeks are over, Clarke is half in love with the man she’s supposedly only pretending to love.  

***

“Your partner is about to do something that could have negative, possibly even harmful consequences.” This week’s session features Emerson interviewing them both together, alternatively describing scenarios to each of them and asking them how they would react. “They are very excited about this decision; you on the other hand are skeptical and worried. Would you tell them about your concerns, at the risk of dampening their excitement?”

Bellamy doesn’t even take a second to think about his answer. “Absolutely.”

“Would you try to stop them?”

“Stop them how? Obviously, I would try to talk them out of it.”

“If they didn’t listen, would you do anything else to stop them? Make it impossible for them to follow through with their plans, forbid them to do so, or threaten to end the relationship if they did?”

“What? Of course not. What kind of manipulative bastard would do this kind of shit?”

Next to Bellamy, Clarke hides a proud little smile. Bellamy has been doing this kind of stuff from the very beginning, being nothing less than perfect, and she’s pretty sure most of the time it’s not even for show – this really is what he thinks. She’s seen enough of his and Octavia’s struggles over the years to know that Bellamy has genuinely learned to trust the people he loves to let them make their own choices, even if they’re bad choices.

Then she remembers that he’s not _actually_ her boyfriend and tries to focus on her goal once more, listening intently to the questions to discover if any of them are suggestive, misleading, or otherwise problematic.

Unfortunately, she still can’t find any evidence that this is the case. The next questions follow the same vein, and while Clarke is not convinced of Emerson’s approach – how the hell does he expect honest answers when he makes them answer in front of their partners, where of course everyone wants to look their best? - she can’t exactly find anything unethical in it.

Which is a problem, obviously, because without being distracted  trying to prove scientific misconduct, Clarke is kind of forced to focus entirely on her “relationship” with Bellamy Blake, and once she does… well, a lot of things suddenly look very different than they did before.

It doesn’t exactly help that, half an hour later, Emerson walks by just as they’re about to say goodbye by Bellamy’s car, and Bellamy leans closer, cups the back of her head, and presses a brief, soft kiss to her lips before he draws back to murmur:

“Can’t let Emerson think I’d leave without a proper goodbye kiss.” And then louder so that Emerson can hear: “See you later, Princess.”

Several minutes later, Bellamy has gotten into his car and sped off, Emerson is long out of sight, but Clarke is still standing behind the psychology building, staring across the parking lot with the ghost of Bellamy’s kiss still tingling on her lips.

***

And then, after they’ve coasted mostly uneventfully through three and a half weeks of lying through their teeth, three things happen at once: A storm brews over their quiet little college town, the study draws to an end, and Raven makes Clarke marathon Veronica Mars.

When she first hears the quote that Raven later informs her has actually become kind of a catchphrase for fans of Veronica’s on again-off again romance with troubled bad boy Logan, Clarke wonders briefly if she has watched this episode before. Then she realizes where she heard the line first, and bolts up from where she’s lounging on Raven’s sofa so abruptly that her friend drops the bowl of popcorn in her hands.

“Jesus, Clarke, what the hell?”

“Have you ever watched this with Bellamy?”

“Yes, of course. He’s the one who got me into it.” Raven sees Clarke’s shell-shocked expression but apparently interprets it differently. “Yeah, I was surprised too. I didn’t think he watched anything but boring documentaries.”

“No, that’s not it. It’s just that… Bellamy quoted this at me. The line about epic loves. When we came up with our backstory.”

Raven snorts. “Of course he did. Bellamy is such a bleeding-heart romantic. It’s why we never would have worked out.”

Raven apparently considers the topic closed with that and returns her attention to the TV, and Clarke wonders if maybe she’s right and the fact that Bellamy used the quote doesn’t mean anything. Maybe he just liked the expression, just wanted to rile her up a little bit. He can be a bit overdramatic, after all.

She drops the subject because Raven doesn’t like it when people talk during TV marathons, but when she meets Bellamy in front of the psychology building the next day, the thought is still bouncing around in the back of her head and Clarke finds herself attentively watching Bellamy as the words replay in her mind, to the point where she has to force herself to listen to Maya, Emerson’s research assistant, when she explains the point of the final session.

“You have both reflected your relationship deeply over the past weeks, and that reflection may or may not have caused you to change some of your opinions. So, for our last session, I would like to  bring up a few questions you’ve already answered.”

Maya pulls closer her laptop and reads the first question and they take turns answering, which leaves Clarke at leisure to stare at Bellamy and think, and think, and think, while something inside of her tightens and sharpens with every passing second until Maya announces that they’ve reached the final question.

“What would you say is the most important condition for a healthy relationship?”

They’re supposed to answer simultaneously, just like the first time the question was posed to them, but this time, Bellamy’s answer has changed.

“Honesty.”

It takes a moment after Clarke has finished her own response - “Trust.” - before his sinks in.

“Really? You changed your opinion?”

Bellamy shrugs, apparently going for unconcerned but not really looking like it at all.

“Can’t have trust without being honest with each other.”

And there’s something in his eyes that, once again, makes Clarke completely forget where she is and how she’s supposed to feel about Bellamy behind the façade of their fabricated relationship.

“You think we need to be more honest with each other?”

And God, she really wants to make herself believe that she’s still talking about the fictional problems in their fictional relationship.

“Yeah. I think there’s a lot of stuff you’re not being honest about.”

“ _Me?_ What am _I_ being dishonest about?”

But Clarke knows; somewhere deep down she _knows_ what he means but she’s still unable to actually say it, so she just stares at him dumbly, watches as his eyes flash with anger and a muscle starts ticking in his jaw.

“If you don’t know that by now, I can’t help you.” He looks for a second like the topic is closed for him with that statement, only to get to his feet for a second wind. “You know what? I’m done with this bullshit. This was the worst idea in the history of mankind, and I really thought that you…. that we…” he’s struggling to finish the sentence, and the longer it takes him, the more Clarke wants to hear it. 

But then he gives up, grinds out “Fuck it!” and storms off, and a lot of tiny little pieces start falling into place inside her to make her heart soar and ache at the same time.

Clarke looks at Maya, wide-eyed, trying to figure out if the other woman saw what she saw just now, and Maya just nods frantically and starts making shooing motions with her hands.

“Go after him!”

And she does, hurtling herself out the door and actually breaking into a run when she sees him at the end of the long corridor, frantic because her voice refuses to cooperate when she tries to call his name and then he pushes through the door and outside to the parking lot and she suddenly feels like it’s the most important thing in the world to stop him from getting into his car and driving off in anger.

It’s only when she’s made it outside and the first drop of cold rain hits her face that she actually manages to call his name to stop him. He turns around and sees her just as the sky opens and starts pouring icy rain down on her, but Clarke ignores it and keeps sprinting towards Bellamy, who is standing next to his beat-up old beetle with a look of such apprehensive hope on his face that her heart threatens to burst out of her chest.

This whole situation is beyond clichéd, Clarke thinks as she stumbles to a halt before him: she’s actually running after a boy to confess her love in the pouring rain. But then again, she expects nothing less of the universe on the day she realizes she’s in love with Bellamy Blake.

Clarke is more out of breath than she should be after that short sprint and a little wobbly on her legs, but she’s desperate to finally get things out in the open, so she grabs the lapels of his jacket to steady herself and force him to look at her, and says the first sentence that forms in her head.

“I don’t want epic. I’ve had enough bloodshed to last a lifetime.” Bellamy looks a little alarmed, and Clarke hastens to add: “Metaphorical bloodshed. You know, in the “disastrous romantic relationships”-sense, not the “brutal homicide”-sense.”

He nods. “That’s good to know. That you’re not actually into murder.”

“Yeah.” Clarke steps closer, watches his Adam’s apple bob when he swallows nervously, and tightens her grip on his jacket to lean up on her tiptoes, bringing her face so close to his she can feel his short, irregular bursts of breath. “So what I’m trying to say is, I can do without the epic. But I do want you.”

And then she kisses him, or maybe he kisses her, but either way their lips meet and she can feel his  smile against her lips before he pulls her closer to deepen the kiss. Gusts of wind are tearing at their clothes and thunder is cracking above their heads, and maybe it’s just a little bit epic after all.


End file.
